News Releases

EPA Awards Over $2 Million to the State of Oklahoma
to Fund Nonpoint Source Pollution Projects

(DALLAS – September 13, 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Oklahoma Office of the Secretary of Environment $2,059,773 to implement watershed based plans designed to control nonpoint source pollution and protect water quality. The funds will support the Oklahoma Nonpoint Source Management Plan in priority watersheds. Project activities will include the implementation of best management practices, construction of bioretention cells, the purchase of conservation easements in the Eucha/Spavinaw watershed and riparian protection and streambank stabilization in priority watersheds.

Unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, nonpoint source pollution comes from many different sources. Nonpoint source pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and man-made pollutants, depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and groundwater.